Minnesota Wild: Too many penalties, too little offense

The Tampa Bay Lightning's Tyler Johnson, far left, puts the puck past Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding in the first period Thursday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla. The Lightning won 3-1. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/MCT)

TAMPA, Fla. -- Before each game, the Wild sit down for situational meetings.

Before Thursday's game, coaches expressed confidence in the team's penalty killers, despite their ranking near the bottom of the NHL.

Coach Mike Yeo felt they'd be fine if given a chance.

Thursday night, in Minnesota's second consecutive loss, the penalty killers were forced to handle too many chances. They killed off six of seven penalties, but the infractions prevented the Wild from playing the type of puck possession game that had made them successful earlier in the season, and they fell 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"To me, that's the story of this game," Yeo said. "We talked before the game about how we had the confidence to play the game (short-handed), but we've got to be smart, too, against a team like that with that power play, in their building."

The Wild did not play smart.

The Lightning spent 10 minutes and 10 seconds with the man advantage. Because of that, the Wild never gained any momentum going the other way, and as soon as their offense got into a routine, it seemed as if they were whistled for another penalty.

The Wild's offensive game is predicated on clean entries, a strong forecheck and long shifts in the opposing team's zone. But that became difficult with players continually in the penalty box.

"Yeah, it was," said Kyle Brodziak, one of the team's best penalty killers.

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"You're trying to establish your game playing in the offensive zone, making it hard on the other team, and when you shoot yourself in the foot as many times as we did, it's tough to get anything going and build any sort of momentum."

The Wild were whistled for eight infractions, though the final one was after the buzzer when Zenon Konopka was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The most costly penalty was when Matt Cooke was out four minutes for a high stick late in the third period.

In the midst of that, Zach Parise drew a penalty that offset part of Cooke's double minor.

During the ensuing 4 on 4, Steven Stamkos broke past Ryan Suter after a neutral-zone breakdown and scored the game-winner top shelf over Josh Harding.

The Wild didn't allow an even-strength goal, surrendering the first goal during a Lightning power play, the second during 4-on-4 play and the final on an empty net.

"It was hard to get to our game," Brodziak said. "I think 5 on 5 we weren't as clean as we have been in some of the last couple games, but I think at the end of the night we feel decent about our 5-on-5 game. We just didn't get enough of a chance to build any momentum off of it."

Mikko Koivu tied the score with 8:55 to play, but the Wild again struggled to find the net. They've scored just three goals in their past four games.

They were limited on the power play, spending only 2 minutes and 27 seconds with the man advantage.

After the game, the problem was glaring.

"Penalties are a part of the game, but obviously the more time you spend in the box, the more chances you give to your opponent," Koivu said. "That's just obvious."

Many of the penalties were avoidable.

Marco Scandella went to the box after retaliating on Radko Gudas after Gudas flattened Brodziak in the Wild's offensive zone with a clean hit. Jared Spurgeon picked up two bad penalties. Nino Niederreiter was whistled for an offensive-zone hook. And, of course, Cooke was given the double minor, his first four penalty minutes of the season.

"We have to address that," Yeo said. "You can't come into a visiting team's building and take that many penalties and expect to win the game."